Manufacture of tobacco



UNITED STATES STEPHEN W. woon, or CORNWALL, NEW YORK.

PATENT OFFICE.

MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 267,764, datedNovember 21, 1882.

7 Application filed January 18, 1882, No specimens.) w

To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, STEPHEN W. Woon, of

Cornwall, county of Orange, and State of New York, have invented new andusefullmprovements' in the Manufacture of Tobacco, and also a newarticle of manufacture thereof; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The object ofthe first part of my invention is theproduction ofcomposite leaves or sheets, in whole or in part, of tobacco, which maybe 7 used with advantage as wrappers for cigars;

and the second part of my invention consists of a new article ofmanufacture of composite tobacco leaves or sheets or wrappers.

The specific improvements which constitute my entire invention are setforth in the claims at the close of this specification. I

In order that my invention may be fully understood, I will proceed todescribe the best mode at present known to me of manufacturing my saidnew manufacture, leaving it to others to modify the same ascircumstances or the requirements of thetrade render expedient.

I prefer to manufacture the body of my composite tobacco wrappers of therefuse stems of the tobacco-leaves which have hitherto sold at a verylow price.

One practical method of producing my com posite leaves or sheets fromthe stems or refuse pieces of tobacco is to out the stems or refuse intopieces, say, half an inch long, and then to soften them in water orother suitable liquid to remove the brittleness therefrom. They are thensubjected to the action of a heating or pulping engine, the same as thatemployed in reducing rags or other fiber to pulp in the manufacture ofpaper, until the fiber thereof is sufficiently disintegrated orseparated and reduced to the proper consistency of pulp, so that sheetsor leaves maybe formed therefrom having the appearance of the naturalleaves of tobacco. The preliminary cutting of the stems is notessential, but it enables the pulping operation to be performed morerapidly. In reducing stems or refuse piecesof tobacco to pulp, asufficient quantity of water is placed in the beating or pulping engineso that by the action of the beaters therein the whole mass maybe keptpassing repeatedly between these heaters until reduced to pulp, or thefibers thereof sufficiently disintegrated to form leaves or sheetstherefrom. The pulp thus prepared may then be passed into a stuff-box,also similar to that 'used in the manufacture of paper, and thencepumped in sufficient quantity upon the wire cloth of a paper machine (orother perforatel surface) Where the surplus water maybe allowed to drainoff, or may be partial y extracted therefrom by pressure or in any otherconyenientinanner. Thepulpthusspreadupon upon the wire-cloth andpartially freed. from the water in which it was reduced and renderedsufficiently strong may be transferred to a felt web and subsequentlypassed between rollers, thereby-compressing and uniting the pulp intosheets or leaves of even thickness the same as paper, and still furtherpressing the moisture therefrom until sufficiently dry to receive thesurface covering or finishing hereinafter described.

Whenever leaves or sheets are made from the stems or refuse leaves oftobacco, the action of the beating or pupling engine, together with thewater employed in reducing the same to pulp, of necessity extracts muchof the color and flavor of the tobacco therefrom, and when subjected tothe rollers to compress the pulp into sheets or leaves still moreofthestrength and flavor is expressed therefrom, and the color renderedstill lighter.

To restore in whole or in part the strength and flavor of tobacco to theleaves or sheets thus made from pulp and to darken the color thereof, sothat they may closely resemble in strength of flavor and generalappearance the natural leaves of tobacco, a suitable quantity of theleaves of tobacco is pulverized or reduced to a finely-dividedcondition, and is 0 sifted or spread evenly over the surface of theseleaves or sheets before they are com pleted or leaves will absorborextract sufficient of we or sheets upon which it is spread or into whichit is forced, thereby coloring and restoring wholly or partially theflavor to them, substantially and evenly throughout.

The composite leaves or sheets produced by applying the reduced orfinely-prepared tobacco to the surface of leaves or sheets made frompulp imparts to them a strong tobacco flavor and appearance much likeleaves of tobacco in their natural state, which have a rough, gum-likesurface.

A still different and equivalent method of strengtheningthe flavor anddeepening thecolor of the leaves or sheets made from pulp may beemployed,if preferred, which may be described as follows:

' The stems or refuse pieces of tobacco may first be reduced to pulp andsubsequently dried or partially dried, so as to receive and beincorporated or mixed with the'finelyprepared tobacco in its naturalstate, and the mixture may be spread evenly upon the fine wire-cloth orfelt web, and may be sutficiently dampened to cause the mass to adhereunder suitable pressure, thus forming therefrom the artificial leaves orsheets containing the required tobacco flavor and color throughout; orthe finely-prepared tobacco may be applied to the pulp after beingspread upon the wire-cloth preparatory to being passed between rollersto compress the pulp into compact sheets of even thickness. To add tothe appearance of these artificial leaves or sheets and to make themresemble more closely leaves of tobacco in their natural state, thatthey may be useful as wrappers for cigars, veins may be formed thereinby grooving one of the pressure-rollers,

so that in the operation of pressing the sheets the pulp may be forcedinto these grooves, thereby forming the veins and closely imitating thenatural leaves of tobacco.

For convenience, the composite leaves may be cut or formed in theprocess of manufacture into the required rectangular or other shape forcigar-wrappers, thereby avoiding the usual loss in cuttings, andmaterially expediting the manufacture of cigars.

It is not essential that these composite leaves or sheets should havetheir bodies made from the stems or refuse pieces of tobacco, as anyother suitable substance might be employed and coated or mixed, ashereiubefore described, with finely-prepared tobacco; but it is believedthat the stems of tobacco are more suitable for the purpose, and arepreferred, because they contain more or less of the strength and flavorof tobacco, and cannot be objectionable.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. Theprocess, substantially as before set forth, of manufacturing compositetobacco wrappers by pulping the material for the body of the wrapper,collecting the same in a sheet upon a perforated surface, and combiningthe same with natural tobacco in a finely-prepared state after the sheetis so far formed as to receive it and become incorporated therewith.

2. As a new article of manufacture, composite tobacco wrappers having abody made of pulp, combined with finely-divided natural tobacco appliedto the surface of the sheets,

substantially as before set forth.

STEPHEN W. woon.

Witness-es:

S. VAN ZANDT, WM. A. MCKIBBIN.

